[̲̅$̲̅(̲̅Keifer's POV)̲̅$̲̅]
Two days had passed, and the angry red of the scratches had faded into a dull pink, though Jay Jay was still acting like she'd survived a war. I had her pinned between my legs on the edge of the bed, the medicinal ointment cool against my fingertips as I worked it into her skin.
"Does it still sting?" I asked, my voice low.
"Yes," she lied immediately, sticking her bottom lip out. "It's a very traumatic sting, Keifer. I think I need more honey. And maybe a new wardrobe. To compensate for my suffering."
I chuckled, shaking my head at my "bratty marshmallow." Even after two days of me tending to her, every time I touched her bare skin to apply the cream, I could see the way her pulse jumped in her neck. She was still so incredibly shy, her eyes darting everywhere but at me, her cheeks permanently stained a soft rose color.
I decided I'd had enough of her acting like I was a stranger.
After finishing with the ointment, I didn't pull away. Instead, I leaned down and pressed a slow, lingering kiss right against the slope of her breast, just beside where the longest scratch ended.
"KEIFER!" she squeaked, her entire body jerking as if she'd been electrocuted. She tried to scramble backward, her hands flying up to cover herself. "What—what are you doing?! That's not... that's not medical!"
I didn't let her go, my hands anchoring her hips to keep her close. I looked up at her, a slow, predatory smirk spreading across my face as I watched her turn a shade of red I didn't know was possible.
"It's a specialized treatment, wifey," I teased, my voice a husky rumble. "It's called 'kissing it better.' Very effective for masterpieces."
"You're a menace!" she huffed, her voice trembling even as she tried to look annoyed. "We've been together for how long? And you still do things like that just to make me look like a tomato!"
"I do it because you still react like a tomato," I countered, pulling her closer until her chest was inches from mine. "We're practically inseparable, and yet you still get shy when I look at you. It's too tempting not to tease you, Jay Jay."
She hid her face in my shoulder, her muffled voice sounding small and sweet. "I hate you."
"I know," I whispered, wrapping my arms around her. "I know."
I didn't wait for her to finish her sentence. The moment that soft gasp left her lips, I gave in to the hunger that had been clawing at me for the last forty-eight hours.
I leaned down, my mouth replacing the cool medicinal ointment with a heat that made her back arch off the sheets. I didn't just kiss the scratches this time; I claimed the soft, pale curve of her breast, my tongue tracing the lines I had spent two days worrying over.
"Keifer!" she cried out, her voice a mix of a shock and a whimper. Her hands flew to my shoulders, her fingers digging into my skin, but she wasn't pushing me away—she was pulling me closer.
"Be quiet, Jay Jay," I growled against her skin, my voice vibrating through her chest. "Unless you want your brothers to hear you through the walls when they land."
The tension that had been building between us for days finally snapped. Every time she shivered or her breath hitched, it only confirmed the magnetic pull that had been impossible to ignore. She tried to look away, but her focus remained entirely on the present moment, the previous days of worry finally giving way to something much more intense.
Moving closer, the distance between us vanished. The air felt heavy, charged with all the things that had been left unsaid since the accident on the stairs.
"Still feel like a 'scratched-up marshmallow'?" the question was barely a whisper, a teasing challenge intended to distract her from the sound of the world outside.
"I feel... like you're being impossible," she replied, her gaze finally meeting mine with an intensity that shifted the dynamic entirely.
| Author POV|
The room was silent, save for the rhythmic thrum of the helicopter rotors in the distance, a reminder that the world was about to come crashing back in. But here, in the dim light of the bedroom, time seemed to stretch thin.
Keifer moved with a slow, deliberate hunger, his focus entirely on her. He pressed a lingering kiss to the center of her chest, making her heart hammer against her ribs like a trapped bird. She blushed a deep, beautiful crimson, her shyness warring with the way she arched toward him.
As he began to worship her skin with a mix of soft kisses and firm pressure, she lost all sense of where she ended and he began. Her hands gripped his shoulders, her breath coming in short, jagged hitches that told him exactly how much she wanted this.
He was being thorough, his lips tracing every curve as if he were memorizing her. When he reached the sensitive skin of her chest, Jay Jay's eyes snapped shut, her face buried in the pillow to hide her flaming cheeks.
He let out a low, dark chuckle against her skin, his hand steadying her as he continued his "work." Every brush of his lips and every soft nip of his teeth made her pulse jump.
She let out a series of soft, gasped moans, the sound vibrating through the air and making his own heart skip a beat. He was no longer just the man she loved; he was the one claiming every part of her, and as she tugged at his hair, she knew there was no going back.
"Keifer..." she managed to gasp out between shallow breaths, her back arching slightly. "You're... you're being really mean."
"Am I?" he murmured against her skin, his voice a low, gravelly vibration. He pulled back just enough to look into her dazed,shimmering eyes. "I thought I was being helpful. You said the scratches were still bothering you."
"They're not bothering me that much!" she huffed, though another soft moan escaped her lips as his thumb brushed a particularly sensitive spot. "You're just using it as an excuse to be a pervert."
"Guilty as charged," he whispered, a slow, predatory smirk playing on his lips. "But you aren't exactly pushing me away, are you, wifey?"
Jay Jay bit her lip, her face practically glowing. "That's because... because I'm a victim of your manipulation. And I still want my honey."
"The honey is coming," he promised, his eyes darkening as he leaned back down. "But first, I think I missed a spot near your collarbone."
She let out a helpless, frustrated little whine that turned into a soft gasp as his lips found their mark. "You're impossible. A literal lion."
"And you're my masterpiece," he replied, his voice thick with a possessiveness that made her toes curl. "And right now, the lion is very, very hungry."
[̲̅$̲̅(̲̅Jay Jay's POV)̲̅$̲̅]
The world was spinning, and for the first time in two days, I didn't care about the scratches on my ribs or the "karate" stairs. Keifer's lips were firm and hot against mine, and every time he pulled me closer, I felt like I was melting into the mattress. My hands were buried deep in his hair, and I was letting out these small, embarrassing gasps that I couldn't control.
Then, the shrill, demanding ring of a phone pierced through the haze.
Keifer let out a low, frustrated groan right against my mouth—a sound so vibrationally deep I felt it in my toes. He didn't pull away immediately; he stole one last, biting kiss before leaning back, his forehead resting against mine. We were both breathing like we'd run a marathon.
"If that's Aries, I'm throwing this phone into the ocean," he rasped, his eyes dark and heavy with a hunger that made my skin tingle.
He reached for the device on the nightstand, and seeing the name "Angelo" on the screen, he sighed, his professional "guard" mask sliding back into place. While he hit 'accept' and started explaining—with a remarkably steady voice—that we were "just resting," I scrambled off the bed.
I felt so exposed, my skin still buzzing from where his lips had been. I didn't want to put my clothes back on; the fabric felt too rough against my sensitive skin, and honestly, we were alone on his private island. Why should I?
I grabbed a thick, fluffy white towel from the bathroom door and wrapped it snugly around my body, tucking it over my chest. I felt much better—soft, cozy, and completely comfortable.
I walked back into the room, leaning against the bedpost as I watched Keifer talk. He was trying to sound serious, but his eyes kept flickering over to me. When he saw me standing there in just a towel, his jaw literally tightened, and he missed a beat in his conversation with my brother.
I gave him a mischievous little smirk, playing with a damp strand of my hair. I knew exactly what I was doing. I was his "koala," his masterpiece, and right now, I was the only thing he wanted to look at while my brothers screamed about flight coordinates through the speaker.
"Yes, Angelo," Keifer said into the phone, though his gaze was locked on the curve of my shoulder. "She's... she's perfectly covered and resting. Don't worry."
I giggled softly, loud enough for him to hear but hopefully not the phone. He shot me a warning look—the "lion" was clearly struggling to keep his cool while his "marshmallow" was being a brat in a towel.
I stood there, leaning against the bedpost with my towel wrapped tight, watching Keifer try to maintain his "professional bodyguard" voice. Angelo's voice was coming through the speaker, loud and sharp, echoing the same old threats he'd been making since the day Keifer started working for us.
"Listen to me, Keifer," Angelo growled, his voice cold enough to cut glass. "I saw where your hand was on that video call. If I find out you've touched her, or even breathed too close to her while we're not there, I will personally see to it that you never see the sun again. Stay away from my sister."
The irony was almost too much to handle.
Keifer didn't flinch. Instead, he reached out with his free hand, wrapping his fingers around the back of my neck and pulling me flush against him. My breath hitched as his face descended. He wasn't staying away, he was doing the exact opposite.
"I hear you loud and clear, Angelo," Keifer said into the phone, his voice steady. But as he spoke the words, he leaned down and caught my lower lip between his teeth.
I let out a tiny, muffled gasp against his mouth. He was biting my lip—not hard, but with a slow, possessive pressure that made my knees go weak under my towel. It was so risky, so naughty. My brother was literally threatening his life, and Keifer was using that exact moment to taste me.
"Keifer? Are you listening?" Angelo snapped, suspicious of the sudden silence.
Keifer pulled back just a fraction, his lips lingering against mine, his eyes burning with a dark, rebellious fire. He smirked against my mouth before speaking back into the phone.
"I'm listening, Angelo. I'm keeping a very... close eye on her. She's right where she belongs."
I bit my own lip to keep from giggling—or moaning. He was being such a lion, marking his territory while the hunter was shouting through the woods. He nipped at my lip one more time, a sharp little sting that turned into a soothing lick of his tongue, before finally letting me go.
The moment Kuya's voice crackled through the phone with another icy warning, Keifer's defiance peaked. He didn't just ignore the threat; he demolished it.
"I'm staying exactly within my limits, Angelo," Keifer lied smoothly into the receiver, his voice deep and calm. But as the words left his mouth, he surged forward, capturing my lips in a kiss that was anything but "professional."
He wasn't being gentle anymore. He caught my lower lip between his teeth, biting down with a sharp, demanding pressure that made me whimper into his mouth. My hands clutched at the edges of my towel, my knuckles turning white as he deepened the kiss, his tongue tangling with mine with an intensity that felt like he was trying to devour me.
"Keifer? Why is it so quiet over there?"
Angelo's voice was suspicious, sharp as a blade. "If you're doing something to her—"
Keifer groaned low in his throat, a sound of pure, frustrated hunger. He bit my tongue—hard enough to send a jolt of electricity straight to my core—forcing a muffled, shaky gasp out of me. It was a bold, reckless move; he was marking me, claiming me right under the nose of the man who promised to kill him for it.
He pulled back just an inch, his lips swollen and his eyes dark with a possessive fire. "She's just... catching her breath, Angelo" he rasped into the phone, his thumb tracing the wet line of my lip where he'd just bitten me. "The stairs really took a lot out of her."
I stood there, trembling in my towel, my heart hammering against my ribs like it wanted to escape. He looked so dangerous in that moment—a literal lion who had just tasted blood and wasn't ready to stop.
The second the line went dead, Keifer shoved the phone aside and grabbed the front of my towel, pulling me so close I could feel the frantic beat of his heart against my chest.